Golden sails across the sky
by thegirl20
Summary: Regina and Ruby have a magic wolf baby. (Written for queenandmorerefined in the Red Queen Week 2016 Exchange for the prompt: "With their toddler who can't stop shifting into a wolf pup.")


"Ruby," Regina whispers, to the huge wolf lying slumbering next to her on the bed.

It's the final month of Regina's pregnancy, and as the baby has been more than a little active on the nights of the full moon while still in the womb, they had figured that she might well choose to be born at this particular time of the month. Which is why Ruby opted to stay in, rather than go out running around the forest. It had been Regina who insisted that she still transform; citing Ruby's tendency to get antsy if she doesn't let her wolfish side out to play as the reason.

She tickles her wife's belly, rubbing at her furry chest. "Ruby," she murmurs again, rubbing harder. Ruby wakes all at once, jumping immediately to her feet on the bed and looking around, completely disoriented and unsteady on the unfamiliar surface. Regina takes a moment to smile at the dopey, confused werewolf occupying her bed, before she reaches up to stroke her chin, drawing her attention and settling her down. "Sweetheart, I think it's time," she says. For a brief moment, nothing happens. Then Ruby's wolf eyes grow comically wide and she lifts her head, letting out a howl. She sniffs at Regina's bump, licking and nudging with her nose. Regina laughs and pushes the huge head away.

"Yes, I know it's exciting, but I really think it would be easier to get things ready if you transformed back to your human form, don't you?" Regina rubs between her wife's ears and finds her hand getting caught in long, silky strands of hair as Ruby does as she's told.

"Oh my God Regina!" she gasps. "It's time? Really? It's really happening? How are you? Does it hurt?" She puts her hands on either side of Regina's bump. "How long have you been in pain? How far apart are the contractions? Is there anything I ca-"

She's cut off when the door to their bedroom opens and a bleary-eyed Henry appears, illuminated from behind by the hallway light. "Everything okay? I heard howling and-" He stops talking, his face contorting as he sees Ruby practically straddling his mother. "Oh my God, I didn't realise it was a...a...private time thing." He slams the door closed.

Ruby looks down at Regina, her lip between her teeth. "Well, that's probably scarred him mentally," she says.

"No doubt," Regina agrees. She pats one of Ruby's hands. "Why don't you go explain to him that it _wasn't_ anything to do with sex while I get myself ready to go to the hospital, hmmm?" When Ruby looks set to protest, Regina places a finger over her lips. "And, to answer your myriad of questions, I'm fine, yes, it hurts a little and the contractions started about an hour and a half ago."

"And you didn't wake me?" Ruby cries. "You've just been lying there in pain while I snored beside you?"

"I knew you'd be like this," Regina says, pushing herself into a seated position, which is no mean feat these days with the beach ball sized bump under her sweater. "Which is why I waited until the contractions were eight minutes apart, giving us plenty of time to get to the hospital."

Ruby's on her feet in an instant and at Regina's side of the bed, helping her to stand. Regina glares at her. "I'm no more of an invalid now than I was when I went to sleep, Ruby. I'm fine. Go tell Henry what's happening. I'll meet you downst-" A contraction hits her and she sucks in her breath through her teeth, her hand grasping Ruby's as she counts through the pain. She looks up at her wife to find her grimacing, as if she's in pain herself. Regina pants a little.

"Sympathy pains?" she asks.

"Uh...no," Ruby says, her voice strained. "It's j-just...you're really crushing my hand."

Regina looks at where she grabbed Ruby's hand to find that her fingers have almost turned purple and a couple look like they're sitting at strange angles. Regina immediately loosens her grip; damn enhanced strength. That's the most recent development. Her senses improved months ago, but this weird werewolf strength thing didn't kick in until the last couple of weeks and she really doesn't have a handle on it yet.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry," she coos, picking up the injured hand and kissing it.

"S'fine," Ruby manages, through a pained smile. "I have another one. And this'll heal in no time." She kisses Regina's temple. "Besides, I'm sure it's nothing compared to what you're going through."

"To be honest, the pain hasn't been all that bad," Regina tells her, as she gets to her feet. "I'm beginning to think that people exaggerate the whole childbirth thing."

 **Storybrooke Hospital, One Hour Later**

"Get me more drugs!"

Her voice echoes around the small labour suite and both Whale and the midwife cringe at the volume, but neither of them makes a move to do as they're told.

"Sweetie, you can't have any more drugs, remember?" Ruby says, stroking sweat-soaked hair away from Regina's face with a cool cloth. "You're too far gone." She gives what Regina imagines she thinks is an encouraging smile. "Not too much longer now and the baby will be here, okay? Just focus on that. We'll have our little baby in our ar-"

Regina grabs Ruby's shirt and yanks her closer, so their noses are touching. "I. Can't. Focus. On. Anything," she grinds out from between her teeth. "Because. Of. The. Pain." Her head whips around to where Whale is making notes on a chart. "You! Frankenstein. Get me some pain relief. Now."

"No can do, I'm afraid. Ruby's right, not too much longer now," Whale says, and Regina swears he looks smug about it.

He moves to the foot of the bed and settles in between her legs and Regina has to resist the urge to remove her foot from one of the stirrups to kick him in the head. "I'm your Queen," she tries one last ditch effort to get drugs. "You have to obey me."

"Regina," Ruby scolds.

"Nope. Today you're my patient. And _you_ have to do what _I_ say," Whale says, before ducking his head to get a better look. Regina resolves to organise wider medical provision in Storybrooke, because, really, having Dr Frankenstein rummaging around in your most private area is unacceptable. "And, what I'm gonna say is that on my count, you're gonna start pushing, okay?"

Regina shakes her head, letting out a sob. "No. I can't do it."

Then Ruby's hand is in hers, her nose pressed against her cheek, lips grazing her skin. "Yes you can," she murmurs. "You can do _anything_ you want to. Just the fact we're here, doing this, proves that, right? We made a magic werewolf baby. Your body kept her safe and now you're gonna bring her into the world." She squeezes Regina's hand. "And if you need to break every bone in my body to do it, that's okay."

Letting out another sob, Regina turns her face so that she can press her lips to Ruby's and look into her eyes. "We're really doing this," she whispers.

"Yeah, we are," Ruby confirms.

"Another contraction's coming, Regina," Whale interrupts their moment. "And when it does, I want you to push, okay?"

Ruby nods and Regina does likewise, keeping their eyes locked as the contraction hits and Regina pushes. Neither of them are sure who the howl that bounces off the walls comes from.

 **One Hour Later**

The room is silent and devoid of medical staff. Ruby is seated behind Regina on the bed, arms cradling her and chin on her shoulder as they both gaze at the little miracle in Regina's arms. Regina strokes the downy dark brown hair on the slumbering child's head, amazed by every little detail of her.

"She's beautiful," Ruby whispers.

"She is," Regina agrees, lifting one of her little hands with her pinky and marvelling at the size of her fingernails. They're the smallest things she's possibly ever seen.

"So, do you think the name we chose fits?" Ruby asks, brushing her fingers over the baby's forehead.

Regina takes a moment to look at her daughter. She's so little it shouldn't be possible to pick out any family similarities yet, but Regina could swear she sees Ruby in her. They'd thought long and hard about names, wanting to ensure that she was given a good strong name that reflected her heritage and both of her parents. In the end, they'd easily agreed on one.

"Yes, it does," Regina says with a smile as the baby yawns. The door to the hospital room opens slowly to reveal Henry. They'd dropped him off with Emma on the way to the hospital with promises to call as soon as there was news so that Emma could bring him down.

"Hey, can I come in?" he whispers.

"Of course!" Ruby tells him, beckoning him closer. He moves to the bed and kisses his mother on the cheek, doing the same to Ruby before settling on the edge of the bed, peering at the precious bundle in his mother's arms.

"She's so tiny," he says, touching one her hands with his thumb. "She's perfect."

"Henry," Regina says, swallowing against a sudden tightness in her throat. "Meet your baby sister." She glances at Ruby and smiles. "Luciana Mills."

It was her father's sister's name, and she remember her aunt fondly. It had the added bonus of being related to Ruby's family name, as well as the moon. So it had seemed an obvious choice.

"Hey, Lucy Mills," Henry says. Regina frowns and looks to Ruby who mouths 'told you so'. "I'm your big brother. I'm gonna take care of you, even though you're half wolf and will probably be able to kick my ass before you're out of diapers."

"She'll still need her big brother, kiddo," Ruby tells him. "You need to teach her to ride a bike, and play video games, and how to fake your mom's signature on permission slips."

Regina's head whips around to pin him with a glare and he laughs nervously. "She's kidding!"

Ruby squeezes her gently. "Yeah, I'm kidding." She's relatively sure there are looks being exchanged right now behind her back, but one look at her daughter's serene face, and she doesn't care one little bit.

 **Six months Later**

"Holy shit!"

Regina and Ruby both freeze in the middle of their dinner preparations at the loud exclamation that came from the direction of the living room.

"Henry Daniel Mills!" Regina yells. "Get in here _right_ now!"

"He must've heard that kind of language at Emma's," Ruby puts in, far too quickly. "Probably from Hook. Definitely not from me."

Regina narrows her eyes at her wife; she'll deal with her later. Right now she has a teenager with a potty mouth to ground. Hurried footsteps clatter along the hall, which is a little confusing because Henry usually isn't quite so keen to be yelled at. She turns to see him as he enters the kitchen.

"Just what on earth do you think y-...holy shit!"

Henry is standing in the doorway, cradling a wolf pup in his arms. The pup is squirming and wagging her tail and trying to lick Henry on any available skin she can find. Regina jumps at the sound of something smashing from behind her and she turns to see that Ruby has dropped the plate she was holding, her hand now covering her mouth.

"He-Henry," Ruby begins. "Is that your sister?"

Regina almost laughs at the question, because who the hell else is it going to be? Some random wolf pup that just turned up in their living room? Although, that's probably not the strangest thing that's happened in this town this week.

"Sh-she was just in her bouncy chair and I w-was just...and then she...and then there was…."

Henry shakes his head, unable to form complete sentences. Regina heads over to her children, placing a hand on Henry's back and rubbing as she examines the new development. The pup - _Lucy,_ she reminds herself - yips and strains to get to her mother. Regina lifts her gently into her arms and is at once subject to a thorough licking. She looks to Ruby, who is still frozen to the spot. Sighing, she hefts Lucy more securing in her grip and walks to her wife.

"It's okay," Regina tells Ruby. "It's fine. It's...unexpected this early, but it's fine. We'll be fine."

Ruby shakes her head, tears brimming in her eyes. "She's too little," she whispers. "This shouldn't be happening."

Ruby's mood seems to be affecting Lucy, because she starts to whimper. Regina strokes the soft fur on her head and hugs her close. She takes the last few steps that separate her from Ruby, pressing her body against her wife's with their child between them. "She's fine," Regina whispers, as Henry comes over to join them, completing their little family circle.

"It's okay, Rubes," Henry says, rubbing Ruby's back. "I've always wanted a puppy."

Ruby lets out a half-laugh, half sob and pulls Henry into a one-armed hug, kissing his hair. "Shut it, punk," she mumbles, her free hand coming up to stroke Lucy's head and back.

Regina passes her to Ruby and wraps an arm around Ruby's waist, the other going around Henry's shoulders. Lucy snuggles into the space below Ruby's chin and Ruby lets out a shuddering breath.

"We'll be fine," Regina says, again. And she means it.

 **Six Months Later**

Regina pulls her jacket more tightly around herself as she sits on the steps of her back porch. Laughter and high pitched yips cut through the night air and Regina smiles when Henry sprints past her, a dark grey pup almost at his heels. Lucy's wolf form is getting bigger and faster with every passing moon. While they haven't let her venture into the woods just yet, they all spend most of the nights of the full moon in the back yard, trying to help Lucy run off her excess energy.

Something cold and wet nudges Regina's hand and she turns with a smile to see her wife, resplendent in her fur. Ruby sidles up and presses her head against Regina's chest, receiving a scratch between her ears as a reward. The huge wolf settles down on the step beside Regina, her head in her lap, eyelids drooping as Regina continues her gentle scratching.

Regina shakes her head. Here she is, scratching the big bad wolf's ears while she watches her son, Snow White's grandchild, being chased by a baby formed out of true love.

And she wouldn't change a single thing.


End file.
